The rehab process: Expectations vs. Reality

After my newest reconstruction done this week (Tuesday 10.11) I've been thinking of what I could write about. I soon made up my mind and decided to write on the rehab process, probably the most important individual thing after an injury like this.
Before my first knee reconstruction done in February 2013, I saw my surgeon. I knew I had completely tore my ACL, PCL and MCLs and all my tendons and nerves had been injured. Even though I had the verdict clearly on paper like that, what did it actually mean? What kind of recovery would it require? When my doctor told me I'd be out between 8-12 months, I was SHOCKED. It felt like my life was torn apart, I cried and cried and wanted to be alone. At that moment it felt like forever, but now I can honestly say that wouldn't have been that long. A year goes by this fast..just clapping your fingers. I would've done so much to have that 8-12 months of recovery time. 




EXPECTATIONS:
I had never heard of ACL-injuries before mine happened, I had no idea what it would be like. And I mean it, literally, no idea! I thought the rehab process would be nice and easy following your pt's advice and exercises to strengthen your muscles. I thought every day would be better than the previous one and after the surgery there would be no pain. I thought the rehab process would've gone straight forward and that my knee would feel normal at the very latest after those 12 months, but how wrong was I when I thought that.....

REALITY:
Recovering from a multiligament injury is so much more than 12 months, it's so much more than doing only the exercises your pt gives you, and it's anything but nice and easy.
Since I'm only 3 days post op on my newest multiligament surgery I'm gonna tell about my previous surgery and its rehab process. I saw my physio for a total of 36 times, I worked out on my own time, after school, with my pt, pushed hard to get back to normal everyday life, which hasn´'t really come true.


After my surgery I had a full length cast from my toes to my hip for five weeks. Leg strengthening exercises had to be started right after the surgery and I found myself lifting my leg in the cast 4 times a day for 20 minutes at a time. Wasn't much of an exercise, but it was something - it was a start. Following the cast I had a full-length brace in my leg for 4 months, that wasn't my life's highlight moment either, but at that time I also started seeing my physio and it brought a new perspective to my rehab process - I had set to myself a goal I wanted to attain, be back to the sports I love! I wish it would've been that easy, but the rehab sure isn't a fairy tale. All the pain meds, the ice packs and a smile that covers the pain are everyday life during recovery.


Seven months after my injury, in August 2013 I had to go through a new surgery, my screws had detached and they were going through my tibia bone and my femural muscle. The pain after that was pretty big, and due to the surgery I lost again the muscle I had regained since the surgery. My rehab contained a lot of bad days in exchange to a couple of good days. It was very frustrating at times but every little improvement and development in my range of motion or amount of muscle was rewarding, and that's what kept me pushing hard.
The mental part of the recovery is probably even harder than the physical one. Lots of bad days, lots of tears, lots of days when it feels like all the work you've done has been worthless. It's very much like a rollercoaster ride with some ups but a lot of downs too. On those bad and painful days we gotta keep remembering ourselves that everything we do is worth it, is gonna pay off at the end, because otherwise those days will bring us too down.

Always remember to keep your heads hell high and stay strong!!

The first

I've been thinking about writing a blog like this for a long time, but have never really got into it. But better later than never, and I think it's a good time to start it now.

Who am I?

I'm an 18-year-old high school girl from Finland, very passionate about all kinds of sports. I have played soccer, floorball, hockey, I have done track&field, I've swum, and done trampoline jumping..so pretty much tried everything ;)

What's this blog about?

This blog will mostly concentrate on my rehabilitation journey from a bad knee injury. I don't do this to get any pity or sorries, but to give everyone with this injury hope and stength, and hopefully some ideas for their own rehabs too. I want to share my experience and show that with passion and motivation and hard work anything is possible. Great things never came being in the comfort zone. This blog is about dreams, about a long recovery process that takes energy, sweat and tears, it's about a life-long journey that I want to share with other people. 

What happened?

Since this is my first time talking about my injury, I'd better tell what happened from the very beginning. It was January 20th 2013, we were playing a tournament in a small town in Central Finland; it was a cold Sunday morning and we were on our last five minutes of the game. I went to pick up a high ball from our side of the field and two girls from the opponent team were following me. We all jumped to get the ball and then, next thing I remember was lying on the field screaming like a crazy person. One of the girls was on my leg and I managed to push her off of me. I remember looking at my leg and then screaming more. Nobody really realized what was going on, then two adults from our team came to my side and they immediately saw something was really really wrong...

The pain was immense, something so unbearable that I wish I could've been dead instead. I saw my leg just hanging on the side, my knee cap being behind my knee. Two medical ladies came and asked me if I was okay - "seriously ladies just go away", I thought. I kept screaming and crying at the same time, everything was blurry and I couldn't really picture anyone around me.

The game was interrupted, and we waited for the ambulance to come for over an hour and a half, when they finally came they kept moving me from one stretcher to another and everything my knee hurt more, there was nothing to support it and it felt like my knee was completely detached. I was taken to the biggest hospital in Central Finland, and in anesthesia they my knee cap back on its place. When I woken up the doctor told me it was very close that my circulation hadn't stopped, the knee had been dislocated for so long.

After that I was put into an ambulance taxi and after a 5-hour drive I was in the biggest Children's Hospital in Southern Finland. I was so tired that I just wanted to go home, but unfortunately that was not the case. I stayed there for a week for numerous tests and examinations and imagings. MRI report was pretty devastating: ACL, PCL and MCL totally ruptured with major tendon and nerve damages as well. I got to go home for a week to wait for the swelling to go down a little bit so that the knee could be operated. Then a new hospital visit was made, this time for the surgery. I had my knee reconstruction surgery done February 6th 2013. I woke up in a terrible pain, I thought it would be over after the surgery but it was at least as bad as when the injury happened. I had a full leg cast for a month and a full leg brace for 4 months. My doctor said I should not take going back to sports for granted anymore, running could be over for me; but this I didn't want to believe. I did homeschooling for 6 weeks, it was way easier with all the pain medication and cast going on.
This was only the beginning of a long road which I'm going to tell about in my next blog text.